man!" her husband cried, cutting her short, with a pale
face. "Hush, hush; he will hear you!"

But the woman was too far gone in rage to obey. "What! and is it not
true?" she answered, her eyes glittering. "Will he not to-morrow go
to Le Mesnil and squeeze the poor? Ay, and will not Lescauts the
corn-dealer, and Philippon the silk-merchant, come to him with bribes,
and go free? And de Fonvelle and de Curtin--they with a DE,
forsooth!--plead their nobility, and grease his hands, and go free?
Ay, and--"

"Silence, woman!" the man said again, looking apprehensively at me,
and from me to my attendants, who were grinning broadly. "You do not
know that this gentleman is not--"

"A tax-gatherer?" I said, smiling. "No. But how long has your friend
upstairs been here?"

"Two days, Monsieur," she answered, wiping the perspiration from her
brow, and speaking more quietly. "He is talking of sending on a deputy
to Le Mesnil; but Heaven send he may recover, and go from here himself!"

"Well," I answered, "at any rate, we have had enough of this noise. My
servant shall go up and tell him that there is a gentleman here who
cannot put up with a disturbance. Maignan," I continued, "see the man,
and tell him that the inn is not his private house, and that he must
groan more softly; but do not mention my name. And let him have his
brine bath, or there will be no peace for anyone."

Maignan and La Trape, who knew me, and had counted on a very different
order, stared at me, wondering at my easiness and complaisance; for
there is a species of tyranny, unassociated with rank, that even the
coarsest view with indignation. But the woman's statement, which,
despite its wildness and her excitement, I saw no reason to doubt, had
suggested to me a scheme of punishment more refined; and which might,
at one and the same time, be of profit to the King's treasury and a
lesson to Gringuet. To carry it through I had to submit to some
inconvenience, and particularly to a night passed under the same roof
with the rogue; but as the news that a traveller of consequence was
come had the effect, aided by a few sharp words from Maignan, of
lowering his tone, and forcing him to keep within bounds, I was able to
endure this and overlook the occasional outbursts of spleen which his
disease and pampered temper still drew from him.

His two men, who had been absent on an errand at the time of my
arrival, presently returned, and were doubtles